Wolves 1 Burnley 2: Furious Wolves fans turn on owner after final whistle as they smash dugout and confront players

The vertiginous decline of Wolverhampton Wanderers continues, with defeat leaving them on the edge of a second successive relegation, survival highly improbable.

The fans sensed as much and around 1,000 of them streamed on to the pitch to express their frustration after the final whistle. Some verbally abused Wolves players, others threw bottles, smashed advertising hoardings and punched a hole in the dugout, with most of the anger trained on the directors’ box.

Even after Burnley went down to 10 men, Wolves only managed to claw one goal back. They are relying on other results going their way, on top of an unlikely victory away to Brighton next week, to avoid League One next season. Judging by the lack of desire shown by much of the side, it will be too big a task.

Manager Dean Saunders admitted that
survival was unlikely. ‘I’m devastated we haven’t got it right today but
we should never be in this position,’ he said. ‘We’re not dead yet but
the odds are obviously stacked against us. It’s out of our hands now, it
was in our hands today.’

Wolves have fallen at breakneck
speed, a decline precipitated by the sacking of Mick McCarthy by owner
Steve Morgan while the latter was on holiday in February, 2012.

McCarthy’s assistant, Terry Connor,
was unwisely promoted and oversaw a slip into the Championship. Stale
Solbakken was hired in July, 2012, and was an unqualified failure,
lasting less than six months. Now Saunders has come up short.

‘You have a couple of bad years and a
losing mentality sets in,’ said Saunders. ‘You change manager, lose
the best players from the relegated team, like Steven Fletcher, Matt
Jarvis, and the players here disappointed that nobody’s took them.
There’s uncertainty all round and, before you know it, you can’t win a
game in Championship.’

Many of those sat high in the Stan Cullis stand left early, utterly dejected, while a few joined in the protests.

Crunch strike: Burnley's Martin Paterson shoots past Martin Paterson to put the away side two up

Spoilers: Burnley didn't have anything really to play for as they sit 14th

The imposing structure cost
£18million. It was conceived when the club were in the Premier League
and hosting the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea once a year. It
was not designed with the modest travelling support of Stevenage and
Colchester in mind.

The club is likely to be crippled,
with both a financial hangover from the £40m renovation of Molineux — on
hold for the moment — and a £25m wage bill to contend with.

Before the game, Saunders said the
only way his side should lose is ‘if we get a dodgy ref or get beaten by
an unbelievable goal’.

They fell victim to neither, just the
same defensive frailties that have plagued them all season. After
eight minutes, Danny Ings was left unmarked inside the box, given the
space to execute a neat turn and fire a bullet of a shot into the bottom
of the net, which pierced straight through the hearts of Wolves fans.

Martin Paterson doubled Burnley’s
lead after 53 minutes. When Wolves failed to clear a corner, he fired
into the top of the net from five yards out.

Wolves were given a glimmer of hope
when Michael Duff was sent off after receiving a second yellow card
after tripping Kevin Doyle on 65 minutes.

Down and nearly out: Stephen Ward holds his head in his hands and the Wolves players look on bleakly

Turning: Burnley's Sam Vokes tricks his way into the Wolves area

Figure of hate: Wolves' owner and chairman Steve Morgan (centre) looks on during the abysmal defeat

Nouha Dicko, on loan from Wigan,
scored his first goal for Wolves to reduce the deficit on 88 minutes,
which made for a frantic but ultimately fruitless four minutes of time
added on.

Stephen Hunt, Wolves’ best player here, was almost in tears at the final whistle. But for Burnley,
the three points ensured their survival in the Championship and manager
Sean Dyche was rightly delighted.